PEPPERS Resort and Masterchef have taken their relationship one step further.

Contestant Danielle Dixon was so inspired when a segment of the show was filmed in Season restaurant at Peppers Salt Resort and Spa, Kingscliff, she decided to return.

For two weeks, Ms Dixon worked in the Season kitchen alongside executive chef Reuben Radonich, inspired by his passion for local produce.

“I really admire and respect Reuben’s approach to the menu at Season,” Ms Dixon said.

“To use only local, seasonal ingredients is really important to my take on food and it’s what I look to when I’m creating my own recipes.

“I really wanted to see how this approach is carried through to the other aspects of the resort as well, as I think it’s incredibly impressive to follow through on the same philosophy of local and seasonal for the whole organisation and it’s something that sets Peppers apart.”

Ms Dixon said watching Mr Radonich at work was also a useful learning experience.

“It’s all the little things - like how they move around and organise their workspace - that help us as contestants perform better in the kitchen,” Ms Dixon said.

She said she was particularly impressed by Mr Radonich’s signature dish: Bangalow pork belly braised in tamarind and rock sugar with Tweed River mud crab, green papaya and mango salad, finger lime and chilli caramel dressing.

“There’s just something really decadent about the combination of the melt-in-the-mouth sticky pork belly combined with the sweetness of the amazing mud crab, and that salad makes it seem good for you.”